250 DISSECTION OF REPORT. 



and, together with some silver spoous and forks, pur- 

 chased as many as he could get. 



" None of the Esquimaux with whom he conversed 

 had seen the white people (9), nor had they been at the 

 place where the bodies were found, but had their infor- 

 mation from those who had been there, and who had 

 seen the party when travelling" 



Until I had copied the above, I did not comprehend 

 how much I had to object to ; but Dr. Rae will not, I 

 am sure, be offended at my dissecting, not his statement, 

 but the evidence on which it has been founded, and 

 which now forcibly brings to my mind my opinion, fur- 

 nished to their Lordships on his arrival, and my views as 

 to what was the course taken by the parties after their 

 undoubted wreck. 



I shall therefore take my queries in number, com- 

 mencing with No. 1. King William's Land will be 

 found on the chart near the latitude 69 N., longitude 96 

 W., therefore the party might have travelled through the 

 neck termed Bellot Strait, and their vessels might have 

 been crushed anywhere on the limit of Sir James Ross's 

 southern search. Tin's would agree with my original 

 views, that they were seen in 1849 by the natives, as 

 reported. 



No. 2. None of the party, to my comprehension, 

 spoke Esquimaux ; therefore I infer that Sir J. Franklin, 

 and Mr. Osuicr who served in the ' Blossom,' were not 

 of the party ; and yet 



No. 3 argues, to my impression, a great power of 

 communicating ideas,--" they were going to shoot where 

 they expected to find deer." 



